Perspectives

Perspectives have been making a lot of waves in the Sydney hardcore scene. Since their inception last July, the youthful Northern Beaches band has moved against the trends of their surroundings, creating a brand of melodic hardcore that emphasises musicianship over heaviness and intensity. Their debut EP and heartfelt live performances were well-received in local circles, securing them a supporting slot with legendary American post-hardcore band La Dispute. Guitarist Eddie Deal recently spoke with Kill Your Stereo about the band’s music and their plans for the future.

Tell me a bit about yourself and your role in the band?

Well, I play guitar but for the most part I’m usually just keeping the rest of the guys in order and making sure everything falls in to place.

The band released a demo EP last December. What has the response to the EP been like?

The response has been really great for our first ever release, it’s been cool seeing people sing all the words back to us at shows.

What are the main influences behind the band’s music?

We all have a large collection of music we draw inspiration from but a middle ground would be bands like Title Fight, Have Heart, Defeater, Break Even, La Dispute, Verse, etc.

Is the songwriting a collaborative process?

Yea of course, me or Fletch will come up with some sort of initial guitar idea then we will base it off that and write a full song really quickly with each member adding input for each part and the structure of the song as well.

You seem to draw a heavy influence from the mellow, twinkly sounds of the emo genre. Would you agree with this?

Yea why not, I wouldn’t say I listen to much ‘Emo’ but we do like the clean melodic sounds of two guitars mixed with heavier drums and Rob’s not so twinkly voice.

The band opened for La Dispute in Sydney a few weeks ago. What was it like warming the stage for such a revered international band?

Was probably the best thing any of us have ever done, and we have to thank everyone who came to that and made it even more insane. We weren’t expecting such a massive response from the crowd singing songs we had only just realised all the way through our set and causing a general ruckus. La Dispute were also such genuine guys and were really cool to hang with. We didn’t expect them to be nodding their heads and getting into the music side of stage either.

Perspectives have mainly played around the local area so far. Are there plans to take the band interstate anytime soon?

Later this year we want to hit the east coast , But in the mean time we have a really cool tour coming up around april/may playing a lot of house shows pretty much everywhere in NSW and we are doing it all with three other amazing bands which I guess you will have to wait and see!

The band has said that they wish to move away from mosh-enthused hardcore. Do you believe that this sound is helping to stagnate the local hardcore scene?

Well this time last year it seemed to be the only genre around our area, at least that you could go and see at a show and I guess we all were just really sick of it. The scene really was lacking anything different or unique that could be seen at a gig anyway. I would have to say it’s getting much better though and the only bands playing mosh enthused-hardcore are really talented and dong things in their own way. Stories is from our area for example and look at what they are doing.

In your eyes, is there a future for the Sydney scene and Australian hardcore as a whole?

Without a doubt, there are so many great bands from the Sydney area at the moment, Endless Heights just released probably my favourite Australian release from any hardcore band and they will only continue to push the scene further. There are some other really cool bands that are making the future of Australian hardcore look bright as well. Civil War, Clipped Wings, Snakepit, Cold Youth are some just to name a very small few (that I can remember anyway)

What is the craziest thing that the band has ever done?

Off the top of my head it was probably when we play Armed With A Mind at Loud Fest and the crowd almost killed a few people by knocking over the massive PA and somehow getting a fold back in the middle of the crowd. OR having Mitch Blakemen sing for us at a Yard show.

What are Perspectives’ goals for the rest of 2012?

We hope to have a new release out soon (7 inch or split) and then release another EP and hopefully tour the East Coast on it at the end of the year. Would also be radical to play with a band or two like La Dispute again!

Are there any comments you’d like to finish on?

We are very thankful to everyone who supports us in any way possible, we have only been a band for 7 or so months now and the response has been amazing. So thanks to everyone who’s helped us out! Special love goes out to our hero Mitch Blakemen <3 Big stuff in 2012 so keep an eye out